I've just returned from Alaska, where I conducted interviews and archival research for a book on Palin, and many of those I spoke to in the Last Frontier, from across the political spectrum, noted that Palin was fixated on Obama.

Sources that I have spoken to in Alaska acknowledge that there is a pervasive "atmosphere of racism" throughout pockets of state government. Palin's failure to condemn the emails is troubling -- but not out of character.